Creative

Experimenting with geese

I’ve now got it in my head that I want to do one or more cartoon with geese, because they intrigue me and horrify me in equal parts.

My first step was to do a bird drawing of a Canada goose, but in a more deliberate cartoon style. This is my initial attempt, which I’ll refine as I go along. I’m using the most obvious joke here, they’ll probably get weirder or more obscure if I do more.

Just a quick sketch of an orange

I wanted to draw something simple and quick, and an orange is just a circle that’s…orange.

So here it is.

(This is also me getting back to the “draw something every day thing” where I’m less concerned with quality and more concerned with building good habits and a vast collection of hand-drawn fruit.)

Done using Procreate, using Dry Brush and 6B Pencil.

Bird Art: Full gallery (so far)

I finally got off my lazy butt and collected all of my bird drawings in a single gallery, which I will update going forward.

Here’s a quick summary of the process:

  • Tools used: iPad Pro 12.9″ (2020), Apple Pencil, Procreate
  • I use a photo I’ve taken, usually one I don’t post because it’s slightly out of focus or otherwise flawed
  • I do a line drawing of the bird, then colour in after

The line part usually take a few minutes, the colouring can sometimes take an hour or more, depending on the complexity. I have trended toward getting more complex with the drawings, but will still try to throw some simpler ones in.

There are also a few drawings that don’t follow the above formula, like the cobra chicken, killdeer and squirrel, which is not actually a bird.

The gallery:

Bigfoot eating pancakes

Adobe has gotten into the text AI business and claims their system avoids the whole “using artistic works without the artist’s permission” thing–which is great! They’ll probably attach a hefty subscription price to the service once it’s out of beta, which is…vintage Adobe.

For now, it’s free, and I’m in the beta, so here is Bigfoot eating pancakes on a sunny outdoor deck.

Proposed site logo, 2023 edition

Yeah, I’m still mulling the site redesign. I’ll get to it eventually. Probably.

In the meantime, I used Canva and some stock objects and background to make this:

And this:

Both are magical. I didn’t even notice I’d used a Star Trek font in the second one until later.

Also, apparently I have a thing for pickles? How Freudian!

Now, I won’t actually use these for site logos, but part of me really wants to. I will continue to mull what to really do…